Hidden rainfall

chapter eighteen

It has been one month since Sama found Daku’s trace. They couldn't go after him until they were fully healed and the commander took a lot of time to recover. But now they are ready to begin the hunt for Daku.
  So commander could you tell me a bit more about this Daku, Sumi asked curiously. She knew basic details, the fact he was a black puppet master and what that entails but she didn't know what he was like. Ok then I will tell you, Asahi answered. He was a monster that is said to have controlled entire cities. He saw himself as a god and so he tried to rule the world. But the other nine puppet masters turned against him. He killed them all but something happened that made him incapable of controlling the whole world. Not that much is known since he existed so long ago. But you can not let down your guard against him. If he catches your gaze he can control you. Although apparently if the opponent is too strong then he can't control them but I wouldn't assume that to be true. I see, Sumi said, getting nervous of the opponent they'd soon be up against.
  It's ok Sumi we can win, Sama said trying to comfort her friend. You've trained hard for this and so have I. All of us have gotten stronger so there is no way we can lose. Yeah you're right we can do this. Thanks Sama, Sumi smiled and Sama smiled back. They have each other and their bond can overcome all. But only the battle ahead will decide. They have arrived at Daku's position.
  He wears a cloak just like the members of Akuma. But behind him stood a large group of people. They looked like mercenaries he took control of. I knew that you'd come eventually so I figured this was a prime chance to add to my collection, Daku spoke in a confident way. Why do all these people wear black, Sumi asked. Those of shadow blood have a love for dark clothing, the commander answered. It makes sense when you think about it. And it is said that Daku is of shadow blood and his eyes glow red so that confirms it. I'm guessing his ability to control people at a glance came from those eyes. Oh yeah, people who have glowing red eyes have an ability, Sumi said. Are you done chatting because I'd like to get started, Daku said impatiently. The soldiers as well as those four got into a fighting stance. All of them looked down to avoid eye contact. Oh you've done your homework, unfortunately that isn't my only technique. Ice art: frozen floor, he froze the ground in front of him leading back to our protagonists. This made it slik and difficult to run across. So they can't charge at him. And now, Ice art: icicle barrage, he barrages them with a stream of icicles. Ichiro defends with his technique, thunder art: thunderstorm barrier. All the icicles get zapped apart upon touching the barrier. That's odd, Asahi says at the recent attack. What do you mean the other three said. Those born with ice magic in their blood even if not their not of ice blood they can walk on ice. It's a trait they are born with so why didn't he come at us. He would have had a great advantage. He should've been able to easily traverse the ice. Oh you're confused about my abilities, let me clear that confusion. Ignition style: cloud burst, Daku use ignition style. What the hell, commander Asahi is baffled by how he has ignition style. There are only a few people who have styles at all let alone in the same time period so how. I will tell you, Daku says with an evil laugh. I can gain some of the abilities of anyone who I eat. All four of them in shock say what. First I remove the bones then the organs. Then the hair and then I condense them into a meat bun. Their skin is the outside and whatever is left on the inside. Funny enough it tastes like a meat bun but I don't do it for taste. I do it to gain some of that person's techniques. I never was born with ice art or ignition style. I just ate who had them. And of course once you killed all of Akuma I made sure to collect their corpses and eat them. Unfortunately Taiyo blew himself up completely so he had no corpse for me to eat but the other two did. The soldiers as well as the four were both horrified and disgusted at hearing this. Allow me to show you dear Naku's power. Two giant hands appear next to Daku although these were blue. I gained the ability he had with the demon but I consumed them both so I don't have the demon so I must use my own mana to use this. That is why it's blue and not red. Of course that means it will need a new name. Daku thinks for a moment and then says I got it. I will call it divine aura. So then this move will be called, divine aura: hands of God. The two hands go and grab Ichiro and Sumi. You are too fast and you have a weird power so I will immobilize you first. Oh and I don't have the disbenefit of only one aura move at a time. Divine aura: blue shift, he is covered in the defensive boosting aura that Naku once used. He rushes behind Asahi and is prepared to punch him. Sword technique: moon slash partial arc, Sama launches a slash that looks similar to a partial moon. It cuts off Daku's hand through his blue shift. The one flaw with blue shift is once it is broken through even a little it releases the technique. Oh what talent you have, I am going to have fun with you. Divine aura: regeneration, he uses the technique to recover his lost hand. Sword technique: moon slash half arc, she delivers a downwards slash on the two hands that held Sumi and Ichiro. Thanks Sama they both said. You do well against me but what about my puppets. The people under Daku's control surround them. Leave this to me, Sumi says ready to show how far she's come. Ancient water art: drown in despair, In the scroll that Kurai gave to her it had three ancient water arts. Techniques that had not been seen for a long time. The first was this one a move that intraps it's targets within a dream like state. The dream is the person dropping deeper into an ocean. Since the people don't think they can breathe they drown on land. Although it doesn't work on someone too strong willed so Daku is unaffected. Damn you killed them all in one technique, you are all impressive. However I am just more impressive. Divine aura: godly display, he creates a bunch of smaller fists that fly towards the four. At this point the thunder barrier is already gone so they are ripe for punching. Sword technique: moon slash empty arc, a technique that spins the blade to block incoming attacks. Sama charges towards him to kill him. Divine aura: double hand defense, a technique using two giant hands to cover the user. She jumps into the air to strike in at the top. Sword technique: moon slash full arc, a circular slash around the user. She cuts through the defense only to find no one inside. She couldn't see he had slipped out of the defense because the hands obscured what was inside. He was above her, divine aura: divine difference, a technique that when he touches her she gets covered in a blue aura but instead of gaining any benefit of it she is pushed to the ground. It feels like wearing one thousand ton armor. It's meant to symbolize the difference between a mortal and a god by showing only he can use the aura. Of course he's not a god and the technique is intentionally made super heavy. In any case Sama can no longer move. You put up a nice fight but you could never win. He looks to Asahi, Ichiro and Sumi as well as the troops that stand behind them. And then there were three.
  He stands ready to take down the three left standing. While they wanted to find a way to free Sama. Divine aura: blue shift, he charges right at them with this. His plan is to go behind them and quickly take down Ichiro because he has heavenly divergence. But Ichiro does something unexpected. Thunder art: divine speed, his training has allowed him to use thunder art and heavenly divergence at the same time while before he was unable to. He was able to split the blue shift and deactivate it. He then continues his technique and pushes towards his sister. He is checking to see if he can get rid of the aura that envelopes her but it isn't solid like blue shift so he can't. All of this happened before Daku could even turn around. I see you have improved with that but now that I know it's coming you won't.. Ichiro charges forward and splits of his arm. You will realese that technique on my sister or I will kill. And why not kill me now and hope that I can't maintain it upon death. It's too big a risk. Well I have plans and I don't think I can win this fight so I will take you up on your offer. I wouldn't be surprised if they captured me if I went along with this, Daku thinks. So I will do that. Daku goes to Sama and releases the technique. But before he did that he looked her in the eye and took control of her. She stood up and rushed at Ichiro with her blade. Sumi blocks it with her staff. You bastard what have you done, Ichiro yells. I took control of her obviously. But that's only to insure my escape. And if you have to kill your own sister because you think she can't be saved and then kill me out of rage then I can't escape. So if you can knock her out before two days have passed then the technique is negated. He begins to walk away. They want to go after him but they have priorities. I am sorry Sama but this is for your own good, he punches her in her forehead knocking her out. He was furious at Daku for making him do that to his own sister. He looked to see if he was still there but he had already left. They decided to go back to the city, now that they know what he can do they can take him down next time